Bank of England deputy's Brexit warning is strong stuff | Nils Pratley

Sam Woods has spelled out clearly why a transition period is needed for financial services - and showed it would make the process cheaper

Sam Woods isn't beating about the bush. The deputy governor of the Bank of England and head of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) says practical complexities arising from Brexit pose "a material risk to our objectives" and "we may have to make some difficult prioritisation decisions".

This is strong stuff. Central bankers tends to prefer qualification and nuance. Woods couldn't be clearer in describing why a transition period is needed to make the Brexit process orderly, at least in financial services.

Related: Bank of England warns Brexit will put strain on regulatory resources

Related: Nicky Morgan requests assessment of City's readiness for hard Brexit